


pull me through the static

by fallingmistinthedark



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean lance, Altean!Lance Canonverse AU, Ambiguous/Open Ending, BAMF Lance, Immortal!Lance Canonverse AU, Langst, M/M, Obscure Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 16:34:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12088962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingmistinthedark/pseuds/fallingmistinthedark
Summary: After being captured by the Galra, something awakens within Lance, and he's not sure how to deal with it until everything reveals itself. Suddenly, he finds that his life has gotten very out of control.





	pull me through the static

**Author's Note:**

> This is a drabble about this AU that I wrote because I had some writer's block and this was the only thing my brain would let me write. I wrote it in under two hours, it is unbeta'd, and I wanted to get this out of the way so I could write the third installment of Slipping.
> 
> (Also the title isn't from anything this time, I don't think, I just came up with it on the spot.)

White noise was everything he knew for a long time. In between the white noise were images of the people he'd thought of as friends. They weren't real, he knew, but it never lessened the impacts their words had on him. 

Sometimes, he'd open his eyes to find golden eyes peering maliciously at him from under a long, black robe. When that happened, he knew to expect pain. 

Eventually, after an unspecified period of time, he woke to noises of fighting in the halls outside whatever he was being kept in. The white noise was faded, but it was still there, dissuading his focus on what was going on, and his eyes slid shut against his will as he succumbed to it. 

When he woke up at a freefall, he expected to land on a cold, hard surface, but instead he was greeted by six pairs of hands, reaching out for him as they held him. He was back with his team, but he couldn't focus on that at the time. All he knew was that the white noise was still there, making him question if this was even real. 

It was, but the white noise never fully left. It always thrummed just at the edge of his conscious, and when he asked Blue about it, much later, she reacted with concerned confusion. There were better times, when it was almost like the white noise was gone, like when he was training with Keith, or talking late at night with Allura, or when he and Coran exchanged stories about the places and people they missed dearly. But it always came back when he left them, when he was alone. 

It reached a fever pitch, one mission, as he watched Keith fall from a hit from a Galran sniper as sentries and footsoldiers alike threatened to surround them completely. It was almost like the white noise was pleading to be unleashed, and when he saw and dimly heard Keith hit the ground, he let it. 

He didn't remember that time, the first time he let the white noise take him over, but he wakes up with hair strikingly similar to Allura's and ears as pointed as an Earthen elf and markings exactly like an Alteans. Allura tentatively asked him if he remembered Altea, which he did not. All he knew was that the white noise had receded considerably. 

They all tell him he passed out as well and that Blue and Red had gone crazy trying to protect them. He can tell when they force a smile after explaining it that they're lying. Keith is the only one he hasn't gotten an answer from, because Keith was avoiding him.

Keith tells him what actually happened after Lance corners him in the training room. Apparently, Lance had passed out, but only for a second, and he was back up before he'd even hit the ground, ears lengthening and eyes glowing like Haggar's but a bright blue, marks a pale, ice blue emerging on his cheeks. Keith told him, fists clenched, that he had woken up then, and that Lance had let out a weird growl, and the area around them had been enveloped in white light. 

Keith had told him it looked like the area around them had been hit by a bomb, and nothing was left before promptly running out. 

The next time Lance let it take over, it felt like the white noise was asking to be released, spreading from his head to his palms. He could feel them vibrating with something, even though he was fairly certain they weren't moving. It was also during his training time with Coran, away from the rest of the team, so he could get used to his new Altean capabilities. 

When he asked Coran if he could try something, the man had agreed. He doesn't think the man was ready for the burst of light that shot from his hands and hit the Level 5 sentry square in the head, blowing it off. 

And that was how he learned he had the same quintessence manipulation abilities as Allura. 

The first time the team saw him do it, however, was when they were surrounded deep in an enemy base. The white noise was begging at his fingertips, becoming almost painful for him to contain. He asked the team to set down their weapons. They looked at him like he was crazy, but he just shook his head, eyes steely. They only agreed after Allura whispered an affirmation, eyeing Lance warily, Keith more so than the rest. He knew far more about what was about to happen than the rest of the team. 

Then, he threw his hand at the oncoming sentries. In a burst of white light, all the sentries in that area were lying crushed against the far wall. With another swipe, another area of sentries, crushed against the far wall. With a last swipe, the last of the sentries were gone, and Lance sighed, swaying on his feet. There was a reason he had never used this power on missions. It was too draining. 

Then, the super-powered commander of the base came upon them. Lance sighed, gathering the white noise at his fingertips again. The thing he hated about these guys was that they were always too cocky. This guy even had the gall to say he wouldn't move until they came up to fight him. Shiro readied his arm as Keith brought out his sword. Lance waved them off. 

Calmly, he walked up to the man, and placed his hand on the commanders face and pushed the white noise into the commander. He fell over, dead, before he ever had a chance to react. 

He's sure their crushing silence as he walked away came from the shock and surprise of it all. He refuses to believe it was because they were horrified at his lack of hesitation. (He knew it was.)

Allura was the only one to congratulate him on a successful mission, but even her voice is strained. 

The next time him and Haggar meet, Team Voltron learns she had personally killed Allura's brother and mother, and he almost kills her for it. Almost. The only reason he doesn't is his inexperience. Next time, he vows to Allura, she will not live to see another day. 

Months after the incident with the commander, things had almost returned to normal. Almost, because dreams kept him up, of Allura, a man that looks like Allura and a woman that looks like Allura, somehow, on what he assumes is Altea. She calls him Arien, and the name is almost familiar. Almost. 

He doesn't ask her about it until the last night before the final battle with Zarkon, Lotor, and Haggar. She whispers back that Arien was her brothers name, in a choked sob, and that she doesn't even remember him. The only thing she had left was his name. The white noise dulls at that, like it knows something. Lance elects to ignore it, until his dream that night. Haggar was the one to find him in the end, as Altea fell, right as he was about to enter the secret hallway to the Castle of Lions. She had taken him, tortured him for three years, and erased his identity from the world with corrupted quintessence. 

He was Arien, and he found he had escaped when a purple cloaked snake had come to him, speaking in a strange accent to him. The entity that had destroyed Daibazaal was the White Noise, and it had kept him safe for over 10,000 years, for this day. 

He sent one last pained look to his sister and teacher that he hadn't properly remembered in 10,000 years before getting into Blue, and calling the White Noise, pleading it for as much power as it could give him. The battle was over before the next sleep cycle, ending with three of Lotor's generals dead, Lotor himself captured and put into a cryopod, and Zarkon dead. 

Haggar, unfortunately, had escaped because he had to save Keith from Lotor. 

That night, Keith kissed him on his cheek before passing out on his bed next to him. Lance didn't sleep. 

Instead, he went to the observation deck, and pulled up the Milky Way, comforting himself that for now, it was safe. That the family that had unwittingly taken in a prince from a civilization long gone was safe. Allura found him there, tears in her eyes as she called him Arien. 

Lance hugged her back, tears streaming down his face. He had his sister back, and as Allura told him, his teacher and faithful space uncle as well. He went back to his room after a time of them sharing stories from Altea, and when he woke up, Keith was playing with his hair and a kiss to the lips. Lance smiled into it, bringing his hands up to tug Keith just that extra but down, and also an excuse to weave his hands into Keith's hair.

And everything was good, for a time, as they helped set up the Intergalatic Alliance. Until everyone around him started getting older, and he didn't. He was stuck with the awakening of Calamity, as he had so affectionately named the snake being that dwelled within him. No one noticed, at first, but Lance did. They would just joke about how Lance aged extremely well, but he knew that wasn't the truth. He was stuck forever in time at 18 as the others grew older. It pained him to watch Keith grow broader, voice grow deeper, and fill out as Lance remained the same as he had for four years.

They finally noticed when he was supposed to turn 22. He hadn't aged at all, even though Coran had gained a few gray hairs, and Allura had grown taller and prouder, and Pidge had even neared his height. Hunk had grown a subtle beard, which Lance had to admit looked good on him. They were shocked as they all sat in the recreational couch room. Lance smiled painfully at them, and simply told them he had known this would happen, before mumbling something about watching them all grow old and running out.   
No one came for him, not even Keith. Lance hurt at that, but he supposed it was Keith thought Lace needed space as he sometimes did for serious things like this. But Lance already knew what he was going to do when this happened, so he took out his carefully pre-written note, signed it, added Keith's personal note, and slipped into his partner's room. Keith was sleeping soundly, hair splayed out across his pillow. Lance wanted to just slip into the bed, and cuddle up to him, but he knew he couldn't. So with a strained gulp, he set the notes down on the desk where Keith would find it, right next to his Blade of Marmora dagger, and he slipped out. 

He snuck down to the pods, careful not to wake anyone or run into anyone that might be awake from a nightmare, he placed his things in it, before turning back around to input his coordinates into the pod. Once that was done, he erased the data history, and climbed in. He hadn't been gone barely ten minutes before he regretted his decision.

It took him two years to track Haggar down, and when he did she was on a scorching hot planet close to a huge, developing sun. The battle raged for weeks, as they both used the quintessence from the sun to keep going. Eventually, Lance's new strength won against her experience, and he snarled at her as she took her last breath. He flung her corpse into the now almost entirely diminished sun from a more developed space craft she had with her, before speeding off in the direction Calamity was telling him to follow. He put in the coordinates Calamity was feeding him, before Calamity lulled him off to sleep. 

When he woke up, he was in a bed, in what looked like semi-nice house on... Earth? He could hear birds chirping, and see the houses outside from here. The sun was streaming in through the red curtains, and the street outside was paved nice. The other houses on the block looked clean and nice, but not exactly grand either. He couldn't hear the white noise, and he panicked as he called for Calamity. She had been his only comfort throughout the past two years, without her presence he would've gone crazy. He could hear unfamiliar music filtering in through the door open to a hallway, with pictures of... Team Voltron? 

Calamity only sent him one, soft, barely there thought. "We're both going home, Arien." And with that, for the first time in four years, the white noise vanished and Calamity was gone. 

"Wait, no, I-!" Lance shouted frantically, reaching for something he knew wouldn't be there as he started to sob uncontrollably. She had kept him safe for 10,000 years so both of them could get home. When she had destroyed Daibazaal, she had told him, during their first year on the hunt for Haggar, that she had thought that was what she had to do to return home, that she had been in a new, unfamiliar place, and she didn't know how to return home. That was why she had chosen to keep him alive and become a part of him. So that they both could return home. 

He heard frantic footsteps as they pounded up the stairs. Panicking, Lance looked around the room, throwing himself quietly out of the bed, to get the heavy-looking lamp from beside him to use as a weapon. He was prepared for anything to enter that door, he told himself as the door opened. Ready for anything except what actually came through the door. 

"Lance?" Keith asked quietly, violet eyes wide with concern but mostly relief. His hair was even longer, done up in a loose braid to the side of his face. His face was gaunt, as if the last two years had been hard on him. Lance sighed to himself, placing the lamp back down onto the table. "Baby?" He asked again, softening his tone with the use of the affectionate nickname. Lance absolutely melted at it, walking awkwardly around the large-ish bed had just been sleeping in. 

"Keith, I-," Keith cocked his head to the side as Lance began to talk, and Lance realized had accidentally reverted to Altean, since it was what him and Calamity had used to talk in. 

"Sorry, I was speaking Altean, but Keith- I don't know what to say," Lance said, stopping just a foot away from Keith. Keith gasped, stepping closer to Lance. 

"Then don't say anything all, Mr.Somehow-Disappeared-Like-Shiro-Right-From-Under-Our-Noses," Keith said, quietly, jokingly. Lance laughed lightly, walking into Keith's ready embrace. And God, did it feel so good after being alone for almost three years. 

"I love you," Lance whispered as they reveled in each others' embrace. He could feel Keith's smile as Keith cuddled closer. 

"I love you too, idiot," Keith said, pulling back, smiling widely. Lance was shocked at the expression. Keith had never been the most expressive, even before he'd left. He quickly hid it, because he was glad that his lover had become more open. Lance, however, was not prepared for the prompt punch in the gut, though he probably should've been. Keith's smile was just as calm as it had been, but his words spoke a different story. "Never, ever do that to me ever again," Keith growled, taking Lance's hand and gently leading him to the bed. Lance's mind blanked and he furiously blushed, stopping in his tracks. 

"Aren't we going a little... fast?" Lance asked, and Keith cocked his head in confusion. "I mean, at least buy me dinner first, geez," Lance finished, watching as a look of embarrassed understanding crossed his face, and he too, started blushing. 

"God No! I just wanted to cuddle you to make up for all the cuddles you made me miss," Keith pouted, getting into the bed next to where the sheets were rumpled from where Lance had been just moments before, and Lance nodded. 

"Understandable. Now move over a little," Keith sighed, but moved nonetheless. And as Keith's arms closed around his, and just how tired he really was crashed over him, he had one, glaring thought. 

He was home.


End file.
